Judge, 1896-12-19 · page 35 of 46
Judge — December 19, 1896 — page 35: what you’re looking at
What you’re looking at
This page contains several brief satirical vignettes typical of Judge's holiday humor: **"Uncertainty"**: Two cats questioning each other's identity—a absurdist joke playing on visual similarity. **"Unappreciative"**: A boarder (tenant) complains that Christmas dinner is indistinguishable from ordinary meals. The landlady's defensive response—pointing to cheap artificial flowers as the special touch—satirizes penny-pinching hospitality and lower-class Christmas efforts. **"Appropriate Christmas Present"**: Sardonic advice suggesting a janitor's Christmas gift should be a coal-cellar key, implying he steals coal anyway. This reflects working-class economic desperation and employer cynicism. **"Rounded Up"**: A leap-year mistletoe joke where a man named Jack Harpur complains that mistletoe covers every safe square foot of a room—suggesting aggressive romantic entanglement or loss of personal space during holiday festivities. **"Just Made the Train"**: An illustration (caption only visible) likely depicting holiday travel chaos. The humor targets landlords, workplace dynamics, and holiday commercialism—distinctly period concerns.
📄 Transcribed text from this page (OCR, searchable)
Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.
Christmas Judge. UNCERTAINTY. “Say ; is that you, or me?” UNAPPRECIATIVE. Boarder—* would like to know what we have this Christmas that is different from any other day ?” Landlady—" Can't you see you have those artificial flowers on the table?” APPROPRIATE CHRISTMAS PRESENT. ‘© YOUR janitor you should present the key of your coal-cellar, so that he will not be put to the expense of having an extra one made for himself. ROUNDED UP. Jack Harpur— Sufferin' deuces! But sAis is a fearful leap-year mistletoe programme | I'm up against ; not a safe square foot in the whole room that is not covered with mistletoe." i JUST MADE THE TRAIN.